AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Scene outside the car compromised,” he said into his recorder. He took close-up pictures of Rena’s neck, the car, the ground, took out a tape measure and measured blood spatter on the gravel. Collected samples.
The sheriff approached. “ME just left the mainland. It’ll take an hour on the ferry—they have the medical van with them, can transport the body. What the hell happened?”
“Her throat was slit,” Matt said.
Jim joined them, removing his plastic gloves. “I need to look at the photos and enlarge a few things, but I can give you the basics. The keys were in the ignition, off. The door was open when she was killed. I thought at first the killer may have been in the back seat, reached around, but the evidence doesn’t support that. The killer is likely left-hand dominant. Of course, I need to wait for the autopsy—which I’ll assist with—but my guess is that Rena died quickly, of rapid blood loss.”
“Are you suggesting she knew her killer?” Matt asked.
“I can’t make that determination. The doors were unlocked. The killer likely closed the door after he killed her, to avoid detection or the dome light staying on and alerting someone to the crime scene. There was some indication that the killer walked east, but either got in a car and drove off or put the knife in a pocket or bag. There would have been blood on the killer, especially the hand and sleeve. I printed the door—there was blood on the outside finish, but there were no prints in the blood, so likely the killer wore gloves. I can’t give accurate time of death, but full rigor hasn’t set in; based on the outside temperature, body temperature, and elasticity of her skin, I can give you a ballpark between ten o’clock and midnight.”
“Weapon?”
“None I could see, but we’ll need to fully process the scene. It could be inside the vehicle, in the bushes, a dumpster.”
Jim handed Matt a phone sealed in a plastic bag. “This was in Rena’s purse. She had a text on it that hadn’t been read from Cal McKinnon. I didn’t unlock her phone.”
“May I?” Matt motioned toward the victim.
“I’ll do it.” Jim was already in his gear. He brought the phone over to Rena and placed her thumb on it, then returned the unlocked phone to Matt.
He read the text.
I’m working at six, but I can take a break around nine—is that too late? Meet at WEC?
He saw that Rena had a one-minute conversation with Cal McKinnon last night at 10:47. Prior to that, she’d exchanged texts with Jamie Finch. He read them. “They were friends?” He scrolled through. She had a few texts between her and Cal, mostly about things like Jamie’s birthday, babysitting Hazel. There were hundreds—maybe thousands—of texts between Rena and Jamie. Sharing articles, recipes, pictures, memes, chatting about customers at work. They were close.
He put the phone back in the bag and handed it to Jim. “Kara, find out exactly when Rena clocked out last night. Anything else you can from Pete. Get into her locker if she has one. Roommates, boyfriend, anything you can learn. Then talk to Cal, find out what they talked about last night, if he knows anything. Same questions. No defensive wounds. If the door was open, maybe someone walked her to her car. Or someone she recognized approached. Otherwise, why would she open the door?”
“The car was unlocked. Maybe the killer opened it,” Kara said. “Jim, her purse and wallet and everything is there, right?”
“Yes, doesn’t appear that anything’s missing.”
“This has to be a coincidence, right?” John said. “How can this connect to the bombings?”
“Rena could have overheard something at the restaurant. Or witnessed something. We don’t know. Or, as you say, it could be completely unrelated. What’s the crime rate on the island, Sheriff?”
“You mean homicide? We haven’t had any this year, before the bombing. Last year there were two. One domestic, one drug related. We don’t get violent crime like this. Property crimes, drugs, robberies? Yeah. But nothing like this. Eleven people dead...that’s more than the last four years combined.” He glanced behind him at the Fish & Brew.
Kara said to Matt, “I’m going to fill Pete in, okay? Anything you want me to hold back?”
“Just specific forensic details—we’ll keep that in-house. But see what you can get out of him. John, I need you to have your deputies canvass the area—potential witnesses, security cameras, whatever you can get, we need. Jim, I assume you’re going with the ME?”
“Yes. We’ll take everything back to the mainland to process, including having her vehicle towed.”
“Send Catherine the photos; she can start working up a profile. Kara, you can have the car when you’re done with Dunlap.” He tossed her the keys. “John, can I get a ride with you back to the station?”
Kara found Pete standing behind the bar in his restaurant. He turned to her, his eyes red but dry.
“How do you like your coffee?” he asked.
“Black. Thanks.”
“I don’t know a lot of women who drink black coffee.”
She shrugged as he poured, put a mug in front of her. “I got used to it as a rookie.”
He stood in front of her with his own coffee, put his forearms on the bar. “I can’t get the picture of Rena out of my head.”
